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March 15, 2007
Good Shepherd Launches Home Modification Service For People With Functional Impairments
Service Helps Individuals Function Safely and Independently in Their Homes

Allentown—Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network has launched a new service –Designs for Life – focused on allowing individuals to stay in their homes instead of entering a nursing home or assisted living facility.

Through Designs for Life, a certified aging-in-place specialist visits the homes of clients and provides an individualized home modification plan. The plan provides recommendations for construction, assistive technologies and other equipment that will help clients live as independently as possible in their home.

Components of the plan may include wheelchair ramps to increase home accessibility, lowered counters for better function in the kitchen, devices to help individuals climb stairs or technology to control appliances and doors with voice commands.

The Designs for Life program is ideal for individuals with disabilities or aging-related functional impairments, who wish to stay in their homes instead of moving to an assisted living facility or nursing home. The program can also assist individuals with live-in parents or children with disabilities. Baby boomers who are planning for the future will also benefit from the service.

Samantha Bogert, O.T., C.A.P.S., is Good Shepherd’s certified aging-in-place specialist. She is certified through a prestigious program administered by the Remodelors Council of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in collaboration with the NAHB Research Center, NAHB Seniors Housing Council and the AARP. The C.A.P.S. credential means that Bogert is trained in the technical, business management and customer service skills essential to the home modification industry.

“The goal of the home modification process is to identify the needs of the client and then design a plan to meet those needs,” says Bogert. “It is almost limitless what can be done, and any plan always takes into account the aesthetics of the home.”

In addition to her C.A.P.S. certification, Bogert is an occupational therapist (O.T.). As an O.T., she has unique insight and understands the relationship between an individual’s environment and its effect on the way he or she performs daily activities. She understands the progression of diseases and disabilities, and designs home modification plans that are adaptable throughout the client’s lifespan.

Upon receiving a home modification plan, clients may choose to implement all or some of the recommendations. The work can be done by whatever contractor the client chooses. Good Shepherd's RehabilitySM, a store that offers lifestyle products and services to people with functional impairments and their care givers, is also available to facilitate the work by acquiring materials, subcontracting construction and guaranteeing results.

Good Shepherd’s home modification service is not typically covered by insurance. Before any evaluation is done or any plan is drawn, a cost estimate is provided to the client.

To learn more about the Designs for Life program or Good Shepherd’s other programs or services, please call toll-free 1-888-44-REHAB (73422) or visit www.GoodShepherdRehab.org.

Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network of Allentown, Pennsylvania
is a nationally recognized rehabilitation leader, offering a continuum of care for people with physical and cognitive disabilities and specializing in assistive and rehabilitation technology. More than 35,000 people come to Good Shepherd each year for specialized programs in stroke, orthopedics, brain injury, spinal cord injury, pediatrics, amputation and more. Good Shepherd provides rehabilitation services in 7 eastern Pennsylvania counties. Good Shepherd operates 14 outpatient sites, 4 inpatient sites, a long-term acute care hospital, 2 long-term care homes for people with severe disabilities, an independent living facility, a Work Services division that provides employment training and job placement and a lifestyle products store called RehabilitySM. Good Shepherd was founded in 1908 when The Rev. John and Estella Raker invited a disabled orphan named Viola into their Allentown, Pennsylvania, home. Good Shepherd is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. For more information, visit www.goodshepherdrehab.org.